May 2016
GE Aviation Thursday won major new business, as South Korea selected the GE F414 engine for its next-generation fighter jets. The Evendale-based arm of GE beat out Eurojet to be the preferred bidder for the South Koreans. The Korean KF-X fighters jets are expected to be deployed starting in the mid-2020s, according to Bloomberg News. A GE Aviation spokesman said he wasn’t able to put a dollar value on the ...
Category: Military Aviation
Russia’s MiG-35 multirole fighter jets will soon be equipped with the latest platform-less inertial navigation system, Igor Nasenkov, deputy head of the Radio-Electronic Technologies Concern (KRET), told RIA Novosti. The adaptation of the navigation system designed for shipborne aircraft will be completed in July, Nasenkov said, adding that work proceeded according to plan. The MiG-29K/KUB fighters are now being equipped with the LINS-100RS inertial system, while the MIG-35s will receive ...
Category: MiG News
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter weighed in on the recently revived debate about the F-22, telling reporters May 12 that he is against resuming production of the stealthy fighter jet. The Raptor, built by Lockheed Martin, was cancelled in 2009 at the insistence of then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. At the time, Gates argued that the money required to build more aircraft would be better spent on other priorities ...
Category: Military Aviation
When commercial aircraft product launches are stage-managed with a careful unveiling of billions of dollars worth of orders from a few hand-picked customers, the sight of a new military aircraft propelled into development with no announced buyers can come across as a rarity bordering on reckless. Selling military aircraft is already a hard business, subject to feckless stewards in the acquisition offices, unreliable support in the political class and shifting ...
Category: Military Aviation
May
01
X-2 makes maiden flight
The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) X-2 (formerly Advanced Technology Demonstrator - Experimental [ATD-X]) 'Shinshin' (Spirit) fifth-generation fighter technology demonstrator made its maiden flight on 22 April. The milestone, which took place a day later than scheduled because of poor weather, saw the experimental aircraft depart from Nagoya Airpor ...
Category: Military Aviation
